Ball-lapping machine



Patented June 3, 1924.

UNITED STATES 101m 11. MOINTYRE, or 31131530111), connnc'rrcu'r.

BALL-LAPPING MACHINE.

Application filed October 6, 1923'. Serial li'o. 666,921.'

To all whom it may concern.

Be a known-that I, JOHN J. McIN'rYRn,

. a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ball-Lapping Machine s, of'which the following is a specification.

' This invention relates more particularly to those machines which are provided for finishing to final shape and size metal balls designed to be used for antifriction bearings,

although the invention is applicable to' grinding machines in which ball blanks are reduced to approximate finished condition.

In a common type of such machines the balls to be lapped or ground are fed between two plates,-one of which is rotated for rolling the balls between the plates while the other is not rotated but has an axial movement in order to apply the required pressure to the balls being rolled between the plates. Different sizes of balls require different spaces between the plates, and it "has been ascertained that for finishing balls most accurately and efliciently, the pressure of the plates on the balls should be varied according to the sizes of the balls.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, compact, easily adjusted mechanism for pressing the non-rotary -plate toward the rotary plate with the most efii cient force to producethe best eflect.

This object is attained by connecting aplunger which carries the axial moving plate by means of a threaded adjusting spindle with a slidable sleeve which is normally forced inward by a power multiplying angle lever that is provided with a heavy weight which may be readily adjusted'to effect the desired pressure. In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows a horizontal section of a mechanism which embodies the invention. Figure 2 shows a vertical section. Figure 3 shows an end view of the same, with the adjusting hand wheel cut away. I

The non-rotary plate 1 is usually cast iron, while the rotary plate 2 is cast iron if used for lapping balls or abrasive material if for grinding ball blanks. The non-rotary plate is mounted on the end of a plunger 3 which is loosely fitted so that it will freely reciprocate in a cylinder 4 thatis-fastened to the base of the machine in any cpnvenient manner. At the inner end of the plunger is ent sizes of balls. 7 been adjusted for a particular class of work ahead 5' connected to which is the end of j a rotatable threaded spindle 6, the outer end of which has a hand wheel 7. This spindle is threaded through an internally threaded sleeve 8 which is mounted so that it will slide in and out 'througha hub 9 at the center of the cylinder head 10; The outer end of the sleeve has horizontally extending ears 11 that are connected by links 12 with vertically extending, cars 13 on the short arm of an angle lever 14. This lever is fulcrumed.

on the pointed ends of adjustable screws 15 which are threaded through arms 16- that The pat of longitudinal movement of the non-rotary plate is adjusted according to the size of the balls to be operated upon by turning the hand wheel on .the end of the threaded spindle. This fixes the distance of the inner end of the plunger from the sleeve and determines the distance of the working face of the non-rotary plate from the operating face of the rotary plate.- As the plates become worn down, or different sizes of balls are to be operated upon, this adjustment is changed. With the above adjustment, properly made the heavy weight is adjusted on the lever to give the nonrota plate the desired pressure againstthe balls I between the plates. The lever may be marked at intervals if desired tdindicate the best positions for the weight for differ- When the weight has it exercises a uniform pressure, through the angle lever, links, sleeve and screw, on the plunger which carries the non-rotary plate.

This pressure may be made very heavy with a comparatively light weight owing to the relative length of the long arm to the short arm of the lever. With the lever bent so as to carry the weight at the side of the machine, as illustrated, a machine provided.

with this mechanism will occupy practically no more floor space than it would if the plunger were designed to be set up by fluid pressure. With fluid pressure the balls between the plates are subjected to the same amount of squeeze re ardless of their size, a condition which has een found to be very undesirable. With the compact mechanism herein disclosed the pressure on the balls can be quickly altered to get the best resultsfrom the various sizes.

The invention claimed is: 1. A machine for lapping metal balls,

comprising a rotary plate, a non-rotary threaded spindle and slidable sleeve whereby the relative distance between an arm of the lever and the plun er may be varied.

' 3. A machine En lapping metal balls, comprising a rotary plate, a non-rotary 25 axially movable plate, a plunger connected with the latter plate, a weighted angle lever, a slidable sleeve connected with said lever, and a spindle threaded through said sleeve and connected with the plunger.

4:. A machine for lapping metal balls, comprising a rotary plate, a non-rotary axiallymovable plate, a plunger connected with the latter plate, a threaded spindle connected with the plunger, aslidable sleeve threaded on said spindle, a weighted angle lever, and links connecting one arm of the lever with said sleeve.

5. A machine for lapping metal balls, comprising a rotary plate, a non-rotary axially movable plate, a plunger connected with the latter plate, a threaded spindle connected with the plum er, a slidable sleeve threaded on said spind e, an angle lever with its short arm connected with said sleeve and its lon the axls of the plunger, and a weight adjustably mounted on the long arm of said lever.

JOHN J. MQINTYRE.

arm bent to extend parallel with- 

